Collymore: The reason that Mike Ashley is still at Newcastle United

Former England forward Stan Collymore told talkSPORT the main reason he feels Mike Ashley is still at the club.

Plenty of Newcastle fans would rather see the back of their owner, but Collymore has suggested that won’t happen until Ashley has got back the initial investments that he made in the club.

“The reason that Mike Ashley is still there is because every cheque that comes in because of the TV deal, he’s thinking ‘I spent all that money five or six years ago and I want it back’ and that means Newcastle United fans have to trudge through purgatory in the meantime,” said Collymore.

One of the main issues that fans have with Ashley is his ambition and the current status of the club, with the main target seemingly just to stay in the top flight at the moment.

It will be interesting to see if there is a big statement made by Newcastle this summer in terms of the manager, with the possibility of a high profile and fresh face coming in who can revitalise things behind the scenes.

Fans would arguably like to see some cash spent in the transfer market as well, with the right calibre of player coming in to try and nudge the side forward to ensure another bad run of form doesn’t repeat itself at some point next season.

Whether any of the recent protests against Ashley have sunk in with the owner remains to be seen, but Collymore feels that any fans hoping for a quick exit from him, are likely to be left disappointed.

Lewis Doe

Lewis Doe is a freelance writer and editor who seeks to bring you the biggest, smallest and most interesting stories from the football world. Lewis has previously written for some of the biggest football news and opinion sites in the world including FootballFanCast and Goal.com International. Lewis is also experienced writing in the betting industry and aims to deliver his stories with up to date factual and statistical information. He hopes to sum up stories for the site and provide an angle on the issue moving forward.Lewis is HITC Sport's La Liga correspondent.